Description
Book SynopsisIn this deep examination of functional morphology, a renowned paleoanthropologist offers a new way to investigate human evolution through the fossil record. It is common for two functional anatomists to examine the exact same fossil material, yet argue over its evolutionary significance. How can this be? Traditionally, paleoanthropology has interpreted hominin fossil morphology by first considering the ecological challenges hominins faced, then drawing adaptive inferences based on the idea that skeletal morphology is largely a reflection of paleoecology. In Functional Inference in Paleoanthropology, innovative paleoanthropologist David J. Daegling suggests that researchers can resolve dichotomous interpretations of the fossil record by instead focusing on the biology and development of the bones themselvessuch as measurable responses to deformations, stresses, and damage. Critically exploring how scientists probe and interpret fossil morphology for behavioral and adaptive inferences,
Table of ContentsPreface
Chapter 1. Unresolved Problems in Human Evolution
Chapter 2. Situating Functional Morphology in Evolutionary Biology
Chapter 3. Approaches to Functional Inference in Paleoanthropology
Chapter 4. Bipedality
Chapter 5. Hominin Dietary Adaptations
Chapter 6. The Osteocyte Perspective on Human Evolution
Chapter 7. Teleonomy Revisited
Notes
References
Index
